ISSUES

Think you are on THE internet right now? Well, you are not! You are on YOUR internet. The exact version of the online world that you see is available only to you.To avoid information overload, we filter what we are reading, seeing, and hearing. In addition to our own picking and choosing, in some situations the government also takes action to ensure citizens are accessing the "correct" information.

This picking and choosing, whether of our own accord through PERSONALIZED NEWS preferences or government CENSORSHIP, leads to Filter Blindness.

Is the ability to personalize what we see to such a degree that we are not even aware of differing opinions a form of filter failure? Information filters are supposed to help us make sense of the information out there. However, when we are only getting a portion of the story perhaps we are creating not overcoming the communication issues out there, but actually causing more of them.Read on to find out What types of ISSUES are we encountering as a result of filter failure.

Four Big Problems

In his book, Infotopia, Cass Sunstein identifies four major problems with collaboration that are accentuated by the digital world. The following phenomenon are possible, because the information on the internet is so readily available and chosen based on your propensity to agree or disagree.

Amplifying Errors -- falling into “group think” and believing something is truth because so many others do

Hidden Profile / Common Knowledge -- taking advantage of information hidden from group

The Specifics

PERSONALIZED NEWS:we have been the victims of news personalization for centuries, and the ability to customize the information we receive has only increased with the advent of technology. What is the impact of all this personalization?

THE FILTER BUBBLE:a unique, personal universe of information created just for you by an array of algorithmic personalization filters. The bubble is invisible and it is becoming more and more difficult to escape.

CENSORSHIP:motivations for censorship range from well-intentioned desires to protect children from unsuitable content to authoritarian attempts to control a nation's access to information. For example, the government of China has set up a system of internet censorship, intending to block internet users within China from accessing material deemed undesirable, such as foreign news sites, sites with dissident political content, many Taiwanese websites, and pornography.Can there be too many restrictions?